Chapter 116 Chapter 116
Chapter One Hundred and Sixteen
Dimitri's POV
"Everyone in position?" I asked through the radio.
"North side ready," came the response.
"South side ready."
"East side ready."
"West side ready."
I looked at Mikhail and Sergei beside me. We were crouched in the forest, two hundred meters from Alexei's villa.
The building was lit up like a beacon in the darkness. Guards patrolled the perimeter. But not as many as I had expected.
"Something feels wrong," Mikhail said quietly.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"The security is too light," Mikhail explained. "Alexei knows we are looking for him. He should have more guards."
"Maybe he thinks he is safe out here," Sergei suggested. "Remote location in the middle of nowhere."
"Maybe," Mikhail said. But he did not sound convinced.
"We do not have a choice," I said firmly. "Irina and Nikolai are in there. We are getting them out tonight."
I had fifty men with me. All loyal. All well-trained. All ready to die if necessary.
Petrov had sent us the layout of the villa. Guard positions. Patrol schedules. Everything we needed.
The plan was simple. Four teams would breach simultaneously from all sides with overwhelming force and quick extraction.
We would be in and out in fifteen minutes.
"On my mark," I said into the radio. "Three. Two. One. Go!"
The night erupted.
Explosions rocked the villa's exterior walls. My men had placed charges at strategic points.
Gunfire immediately followed. My teams were breaching.
"Move!" I ordered.
Sergei, Mikhail, and I ran towards the villa with ten men as our personal guard.
The front gates were already blown open. Guards were scrambling, confused, and disoriented.
We shot anyone who got in our way.
I had one goal. Get to Irina and Nikolai. Everything else was secondary.
"Third floor!" I shouted to my men. "Petrov said the nursery is on the third floor!"
We fought our way inside. The villa was in chaos. Servants were screaming, guards were shooting.
My men were efficient and ruthless.
We reached the stairs and started climbing. We got to the third floor.
"There!" Sergei pointed to a door at the end of the hall.
We ran towards it.
I kicked the door open.
The nursery was empty. No Irina. No Nikolai.
"Fuck!" I shouted. "Where are they?"
My radio crackled. "Boss! We have a problem!"
"What problem?" I demanded.
"Reinforcements! Hundreds of them! They just appeared out of nowhere!"
My blood ran cold.
"What?" I said. "That is impossible! Petrov said…"
I did not get to finish.
The window beside me exploded. Gunfire poured in.
"Get down!" Mikhail shouted.
We hit the floor.
But it was too late. We were pinned down.
"They were waiting for us," Mikhail said grimly. "This was a trap."
He was right. Alexei had known we were coming.
But how?
Unless... unless Petrov had been discovered. Unless he had been forced to give up our plan.
"We need to retreat!" Sergei shouted over the gunfire.
"No!" I yelled back. "Not without Irina and Nikolai!"
"We will die if we stay!" Sergei argued.
More gunfire erupted. One of my men went down. Then another.
"Everyone fall back!" I ordered finally.
We retreated down the hallway. But Alexei's men were everywhere now.
Hundreds of them. Just like my scout had said.
They were not normal guards. These were military, professional soldiers.
And their weapons... I had never seen anything like them. Well advanced and deadly. Far beyond what should exist.
My men were being slaughtered.
"This way!" Mikhail pointed to a side corridor.
We ran. But there were soldiers there too.
We were surrounded.
"Put down your weapons!" A voice commanded in Russian.
I looked around. At least thirty guns were pointed at us.
Mikhail, Sergei, and I were the only ones left from our group. The rest were dead.
Slowly, I lowered my gun.
"Smart choice," the soldier said.
They rushed forward. Bound our hands behind our backs and forced us to our knees.
I had failed. Again.
We were dragged downstairs. Out into the courtyard.
My men's bodies were everywhere.
I felt sick. These men had trusted me and I had led them to their deaths.
"Dimitri, Dimitri, Dimitri."
I looked up.
Alexei was walking towards us. He was smiling, wearing a robe. Like we had interrupted his evening.
"Did you really think this would work?" Alexei asked, stopping in front of me. "Did you really think you could just waltz in here and steal my family?"
"They are not your family," I spat.
"They are now," Alexei replied calmly. "Irina is mine. Nikolai is mine. Everything you love is mine."
He crouched down to my level.
"I knew you would come," Alexei said. "Your little spy was very helpful in confirming when."
My heart sank. "Petrov?"
"Oh, we caught him immediately he got here," Alexei said casually. "Poor man. He really tried to hold out. But everyone breaks eventually."
Rage flooded through me. "What did you do to him?"
"Nothing permanent," Alexei shrugged. "Yet. I am saving him for later. A nice public execution maybe."
"You are a monster," I growled.
"I am a winner," Alexei corrected. "And you, dear brother, are a loser."
He stood up and looked at his men.
"I have plans for these three," Alexei announced. "Something worse than death."
He pointed at Mikhail. "Let him go. But first, make sure he never walks again."
"What?" Mikhail said. "No!"
"He is your godfather!" I shouted. "He raised you! How can you…"
"That is exactly why I am not killing him," Alexei interrupted. "Out of respect for what he once was. But he meddled in my business. And that has consequences."
"Alexei, please!" I begged. "Please do not do this!"
But Alexei just smiled.
Four soldiers grabbed Mikhail and forced him flat on the ground.
"No! NO!" Mikhail screamed.
They raised heavy metal rods. And brought them down on his legs. The sound of bones shattering was sickening. Mikhail's screams were worse.
Again and again they struck, methodically destroying both legs.
"STOP!" I roared. "PLEASE! STOP!"
But they did not stop until Mikhail's legs were mangled beyond
recognition. Until he had passed out from the pain.
Tears streamed down my face. "You bastard. You fucking bastard!"
"Take him away," Alexei ordered. "Dump him outside the gates. Let him crawl home if he can."
They dragged Mikhail's unconscious body away. His ruined legs left trails of blood.
Alexei turned to Sergei.
"And you," Alexei said. "You are just an annoyance. Nothing worth keeping alive."
"No," I said. "Please. Not Sergei. Kill me instead. Please."
"Where is the fun in that?" Alexei asked.
He nodded to his men.
They raised their weapons.
"Dimitri," Sergei said calmly. "It has been an honor."
"Sergei…" I started.
The guns fired.
Sergei's body jerked. Blood bloomed across his chest. He fell forward.
Dead before he hit the ground.
"NO!" I screamed. "NO! SERGEI!"
I lunged forward. But the guards grabbed me, holding me back.
I fought them, screamed and cursed. But it did no good. Sergei was gone.
"Burn the body," Alexei ordered. "I do not want any evidence left."
"Let me bury him!" I begged. "Please! He deserves a proper burial!"
"He deserves nothing," Alexei said coldly. "He chose the wrong side."
They dragged Sergei's body away.
I was sobbing now. This was my fault. If I had listened to Mikhail. If I had waited. If I had been smarter.
Sergei would still be alive. Mikhail would still have his legs.
"Take him to the cells," Alexei ordered, gesturing to me.
The guards yanked me to my feet. They dragged me to the basement. They stopped at a cell and opened it.
Inside was darkness. It smelled like rot and death.
They threw me inside.
Then they started removing my clothes. My shirt. My pants. My shoes.
"What are you doing?" I demanded.
They did not answer, they just stripped me down to my shorts.
Then they left, slammed the cell door shut and locked it.
I was alone in the darkness.
Cold, nearly naked and surrounded by the smell of decay.
I sank to the floor.
And I wept.
For Sergei. For Mikhail. For all my men who died tonight. For Irina. For Nikolai. And for myself.
I had lost everything.
But what pained me most was wha
t I had seen as they dragged me here.
A glimpse of Irina standing in the hallway.
She was wearing only a sheet wrapped around her body. Her hair was messy. Her face was tear-stained.
And she was coming from the direction of Alexei's bedroom.
The image burned into my brain.
No. No, it could not be.
But I knew. Deep down, I knew.
Qqqqqqqq,
Alexei had taken her. Just like he had taken everything else.
And I was powerless to stop him.
I curled up on the cold stone floor.
And for the first time in my life, I wished I was dead.